'We wrote the specifications on the tiles and said there should never be damage to a tile. Never damage a tile, never touch a tile. And yet after each flight, we had over 100 dings.' What we've learned in 20 years since the Columbia disaster:
, payload specialist:"What I remember most about Ilan was his infectious smile. As sharp as he was, as good a man as he was, he could just absolutely bring a smile to your face. He was a pleasure to talk to and to work with."The space shuttle's thermal protection system, made up of thousands of tiles, was almost a program in and of itself. Depending on location on the orbiter, their materials were customized to handle different types of loads and heat.
That change from the original plan is commonly cited at Day of Remembrance ceremonies every year. Often referred to as"normalization of deviance," the story of overconfidence in the protective system used by the shuttle – and willingness to accept damages with the hopes of repairing them and then flying again – can likely be heard in engineering classrooms around the world.
"We actually hired executives from the old Eastern Airlines ... to bring them in to the ground processing organization to try to get that airliner kind of turnaround mentality. It was a good idea, but didn't work because shuttle needed so much work on the ground before flight," Leinbach said. But future stages are coming, especially now that NASA's new, moon-focused Artemis program is off and running with a successful first mission under its belt. A mix of commercial and government missions made possible by hundreds of contractors and companies is bringing that exponential growth sooner rather than later.Introduction to the 'Columbia Room' tour at Kennedy Space Center
Ciannilli and his team have shown the Columbia room to commercial space executives and engineers, political leaders, and even representatives from unrelated industries. In fact, Columbia's lessons are just as important to leadership operating outside the space realm.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
20 years after the Columbia shuttle disaster, its astronauts' legacy lives on at home and at NASATwenty years have passed since the Columbia space shuttle broke apart over Texas, yet traces of the astronauts live on at home and at NASA.
Read more »
Space Shuttle Columbia lost in a storm of history 20 years laterSaturday, Feb. 1, 2003, that the Space Shuttle Columbia was lost just 15 minutes before it was scheduled to land at Cape Canaveral. It was the 28th mission for the reusable Columbia, which had inaugurated the shuttle program in 1981
Read more »
In Photos: Remembering the Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster 20 Years LaterColumbia broke apart during reentry on February 1, 2003, killing all seven astronauts on board. For the Shuttle program, it marked the beginning of the end.
Read more »
NASA pledges 'acute awareness' of astronaut safety 20 years after Columbia shuttle tragedySeven astronauts lost their lives on space shuttle Columbia on Feb. 1, 2003, due to a series of technical and organizational problems at NASA.
Read more »
Liberal Columbia Journal Review offers scathing indictment of New York Times' Russiagate coverageThe New York Times was the subject of a scathing critique by the Columbia Journalism Review over its coverage of the Russia probe that dominated the Trump years.
Read more »
Jenifer Mallory Promoted to President of Columbia RecordsThe exec, previously executive vp/general manager at the label, moves up to a new position.
Read more »